Poems

February 28, 2011 Jessie Janeshek grew up in West Virginia and earned a B.A. from Bethany College, an M.F.A. from Emerson College, and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Her first collection of poems, Invisible Mink was published by Iris Press in 2010. She co-edited Outscape: Writings on Fences and Frontiers (KWG Press, 2008), a literary anthology connecting readers to the inner and outer landscapes of East Tennessee and beyond. She teaches writing at the University of Tennessee, works as a freelance editor, and promotes her belief in the power of poetry as community outreach by co-directing a variety of volunteer workshops. On February 28 at 7 p.m., she will read from Invisible Mink in the Mary Greer room of the Hodges Library at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

January 26, 2011 Amy Wright is the author of two chapbooks, There Are No New Ways To Kill A Man, and Farm. Her work has also appeared in a number of journals or collections, including American Letters & Commentary, Quarterly West, and The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Southern Appalachia. She is the prose editor of Zone 3 Press and an assistant professor of creative writing at Austin Peay State University. She spends her time conducting interviews with various artists and writers. Examples are available at Zone 3. Amy Wright will read from Farm at the Montgomery County Public Library on January 27 at 5:30 p.m.

September 24, 2010 Bill Brown is a part-time lecturer at Vanderbilt University. He has written four poetry collections, three chapbooks, and a textbook. The recipient of many awards and fellowships, Brown lives in the hills of Robertson County with his wife, Suzanne, and a tribe of cats. “The Melting” originally appeared in The Texas Poetry Review.

September 17, 2010 Tina Barr’s book, The Gathering Eye, won the Editor’s Prize at Tupelo Press. She has received Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the MacDowell Colony, the Ucross Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her poems have been published or will shortly appear in Shenandoah, The Antioch Review, The Notre Dame Review, Crab Orchard Review, and Witness. Barr teaches at Rhodes College in Memphis.

September 10, 2010 Susan O’Dell Underwood is the director of creative writing at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, where she has taught Appalachian literature, modern poetry, and writing for than twenty years. She earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the PhD in English from Florida State University. In 2004, her novel-in-progress, Genesis Road, won the Tennessee Arts Commission grant for writing. Her first chapbook, From, about family and cultural influence in the mountain South, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. Underwood is originally from Bristol, Tennessee.

September 3, 2010 Clay Matthews has published work in The American Poetry Review, Spinning Jenny, Willow Springs, The JournalMuffler (H_NGM_N B_ _KS) and Western Reruns (available for free download online from End & Shelf Books). His first full-length collection, Superfecta, was released by Ghost Road Press in 2008, and a second, Runoff, was recently released from BlazeVOX Books. He teaches at Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tennessee, and edits poetry for The Tusculum Review.